1 ITU Regional Forum for Europe. Broadband: A Pillar of Social and Economic Development 6-7 September 2012, Tirana Albania Broadband Access in Albania Piro XHIXHO Chairman Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP)

Market overview Market players: ◦ 4 MNO ◦ 80 Fixed telephony operators ◦ 120 ISP Mobile market: significant growth Broadband market: moderate growth Fixed market: slow growth and very low penetration 2

Market revenues Total revenues in 2011: 370 million Euros Total revenues in 2011 down by 9% compared with 2010: ◦ AMC, Vodafone and Albtelecom: fall in revenues ◦ Other operators revenues increased Mobile operators: 75% of all the market Albtelecom plus 4 MNO: 93% of the market Abcom, Primo and ASC (3 largest OAO): 4% of the total market or 50% of all OAO revenues 3

Mobile telephony : Significant growth rate /1: Moderate growth : ◦ 5.3 million users (active SIM): 187% penetration ◦ 3.2 million active users (usage in the last 3 months): 114% penetration Prepaid users: 91% Average Call Usage has increased significantly in /1 Subscribers’ Market shares: 4 AMC VODAFONE ALBANIA EAGLE MOBILE PLUS COMMUNICATION 2012/132.82%34.76%24.66%7.76% Market Entry

Fixed telephony : Moderate growth over the years : low/negative growth rate : ◦ subscribers: 11.5% penetration ◦ 4% lower than end 2011 Fixed incumbent (Albtelecom): ◦ /1: 16% fall in the number of subscribers ◦ Reduction of market shares ABCom: largest alt.net (cable operator) with 30 thousands subscribers 5

Mobile and fixed telephony susbscribers 6

Broadband access Broadband access (fixed and Mobile 3G modem/USB) : ◦ 189 thousands subscribers:  : fixed broadband  : Mobile Broadband 3G USB/modem ◦ 6.6 % per population (3.7 % 2010) ◦ 175 thousands households ◦ 24% households Steady growth /1 7

Broadband access subsc /1 8

Fixed Broadband access Albtelecom: ◦ Significant increase in /1  reduction by 15% in ◦ reduction in market share for fixed broadband: from 58% in 2010 to 46% in 2012/1 ◦ Techonology:  90% ADSL; 10 % FTTN.  In the process of migration from PSTN to NGN (VoIP based ): currently 50% of subscribers are connected to MSAN Alternative operators: ◦ Significant increase in /1 ◦ Technology: mostly XDSL ◦ ABCom:  largest AO with 21% market share  Cable operator with triple pay offers 9

Fixed broadband The most used access speed: ◦ from 1-2Mbps in 2010 to 2-4Mbps in 2011/2012(1). Main operators offers for 4-20 Mbps, but with limited take up Total Installed optical fibre: ◦ 4689 km in 2011 compared to 2161 km in International Internet Connectivity: ◦ from about 6 Gbps in 2009, to about 30 Gbps in Retail tariffs: ◦ Significant reductions in /1 ◦ Current level: At average level in SEE Converged services (Bundles): ◦ Mostly Broadband and fixed telephony ◦ Triple play: 2 main players (Abcom and Tring) but limited take up 10

Fixed broadband Retail tariffs Source: Cullen International Report

Mobile Broadband: 3G authorizations : First 3G authorization Vodafone Albania: winner with 31.4 Million Euro Bid Coverage at : 85.6% of territory/99% of population : Second 3G authorization AMC: winner with 15.1 Million Euro Bid Coverage at : 73.3% of territory/96.2% of population : Tender for the next two 3G authorizations 12 Source: Cullen International Report 1, November 2011

Mobile Broadband G access: ◦ 38000: modem/USB subscribers  21% of total broadband subscribers (fixed and mobile) ◦ : access through mobile phones GPRS/EDGE access users:

Market shares 2012/1 14

Fixed Broadband: LLU and bitstream access : AKEP designated Albtelecom as SMP on LLU. Main obligations: ◦ RUO for LLU ◦ Access for LLU and bitstream ◦ Prices:  shared and full access: BULRAIC cost  Bitstream: commercial negotiation 15

RUO: Local Loop Unbundling November 2011: Albtelecom submitted RUO to AKEP : AKEP published on RUO for consultation with market players : AKEP approved RUO of Albtelecom ◦ significant changes to Albtelecom proposed RUO, especially prices ◦ Obligation for Albtelecom to publish reference offer for bitstream access June 2012: RUO published on AKEP and Albtelecom website and operational for operators for LLU services 16

Other AKEP initiatives for Broadband related issues Regulation Nr. 22 date “On Technical Requirements for building the infrastructure of urban cable networks and interurban optical fiber networks for electronic communications”: ◦ Rules for building and maintaning cable and fiber networks Backbone infrastructure Atlas: ◦ Regulation no.26 date “On content, form and functioning of electronic register of public electronic communication networks in Albania Broadband Speed Tester One tool more for measuring the broadband access for albanian users. 17

Backbone infrastructure ATLAS (phase 1) Aim: ◦ Store information on all backbone infrastructure of public electronic ◦ communications networks in the Republic of Albania. ◦ Provide transparency and data for free capacities. ◦ Improved capacity utilization of the public electronic communications networks. ◦ Development of multiple roles for its users to access the data. Users: General public: access to data on connection points and free capacities (no details on the provider) Operators: access to the system and change information only for their own networks. Government bodies: access at certain levels of the system AKEP: access to all detailed infrastructure information regarding geographical positioning, technical info and data on free capacities. 18

Technologies applied : Geoserver, PostGis, OpenLayers, GeoExt, Google Maps,Web GIS-AKEP Map of Radio Facilities

“ Atlasi elektronik i Republikes së Shqipërisë lidhur me aksesin me brez të gjerë në nivel kombëtar” Optical Cables of different operators: Tirana

Broadband Speed Tester Service AKEP provides a speed tester for all broadband users in Albania test/index.html Broadband Speed Test measures: ◦ Download Speed ◦ Upload Speed ◦ Latency ◦ Date/Time of test Soon to be made avail. from all ISP 21

Thank you! 22